Chapter 9 Developmental Theories

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Chapter 9 Developmental Theories
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Developmental Theories

• Purpose of developmental theories is to provide a
  more powerful explanation of crime
• Most single-factor theories focus on the onset of
  crime but poorly explain escalation and desistance

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Developmental Theories

• Questions asked
• 1) Why do some offenders increase their criminal
  activities, while others decrease?
• 2) Why do some criminals reduce criminal activity
  and then resume it again?

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Developmental Theories

• Three types of developmental / integrated
  theories
• 1) Multi-factor theories
• Combine influences of structural, socialization,
  conflict, choice, and trait theories

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Developmental Theories

• 2) Latent trait theories
• Assume disposition to commit crime is stable
• Personal attribute that controls inclination to
  commit crime
• May be present at birth or early in life

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Developmental Theories

• Examples of latent traits
• Low intelligence
• Genetic abnormalities
• Impulsive personality
• Etc.

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Developmental Theories

• Because latent traits are stable, fluctuations in
  offending over time reflect changes in criminal
  opportunities
• Based on rational choice theory

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Developmental Theories

• 3) Life-course theories
• Assumes propensity to commit crime is not stable
  and changes over time
• Crime is a developmental process

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Developmental Theories

• Recognize that as people mature, the factors that
  influence their behavior change
• Family influences, then peer influences, then
  vocational and marital influences
• Influence of changing interpersonal and
  structural factors encourages or discourages crime

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Multi-Factor Theories

• Will cover the following multi-factor theories
• 1) Elliots Integrated Theory
• 2) Colvin and Pauly Integrated Structural
  Marxist Theory
• 3) Hagan Power-Control Theory

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Elliots Integrated Theory

• Explanatory model for delinquency and drug use
• Integrated strain, social learning, and control
  theories

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Elliots Integrated Theory

• Premises
• 1) Inadequate socialization leads to weak social
  controls
• 2) Social disorganization leads to strain and
  weak social controls
• 3) Strain also leads to weak social controls

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Elliots Integrated Theory

• 4) Weak social controls and strain lead to
  delinquent associations and weak conventional
  values which lead to delinquency

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Colvin and Pauly Integrated Structural Marxist
Theory

• Premises
• 1) Crime is due to socialization within the
  family
• 2) However, family relations are controlled by
  workforce participation

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Colvin and Pauly Integrated Structural Marxist
Theory

• 3) Negative experiences in workplace (e.g., no
  power, conflict with supervisors) create strain
  and alienation within family setting
• 4) Negative experience in workplace leads to
  inconsistent and overly punitive discipline at
  home

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Colvin and Pauly Integrated Structural Marxist
Theory

• 5) Inconsistent and overly punitive discipline at
  home leads to alienation among youth
• 6) Feelings of alienation from parents reinforced
  by association with groups of similar alienated
  peers (subculture formation) leads to crime

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Colvin and Pauly Integrated Structural Marxist
Theory

• If want to prevent delinquency, need power and
  control over root causes of delinquency
• Need power and control over means of production

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Hagan Power-Control Theory

• Discussed in book under Radical Feminist Theory
  in Chapter 9
• Combined Marxist theory with control theory

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Hagan Power-Control Theory

• Premises
• 1) Crime rates function of 2 factors
• Class position (power)
• Family functions (control)
• 2) Within the family, parents reproduce the power
  relations they hold within the workplace

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Hagan Power-Control Theory

• A position of dominance at work is equated with
  control in the household
• 3) Paternalistic/Patriarchal families
• Father is primary worker outside of household
• Boys are more likely to deviate due to freedom
• Girls less risk-taking behavior because mother
  controls their behavior

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Hagan Power-Control Theory

• 4) Egalitarian families and female headed
  households
• In egalitarian families, spouses hold similar
  positions of power at home and workplace
• Girls and boys deviate equally in these households

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Hagan Power-Control Theory

• Implies that middle class youth of both sexes
  will have higher crime rates than their lower
  class counterparts unless female-headed in lower
  class

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Latent Trait Theories

• Gottfredson and Hirschi Self-Control Theory
• Sometimes called General Theory of Crime
• Integrates concepts of social control with
  biosocial, psychological, routine activities, and
  rational choice theories

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Gottfredson and Hirschi Self-Control Theory

• Premises
• 1) Crime rates fluctuate according to criminal
  opportunities (rational choice and routine
  activities)
• Individual differences are stable over the life
  course and so is propensity to commit crime
  only opportunity that changes

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Gottfredson and Hirschi Self-Control Theory

• 2) Individual differences in tendency to commit
  crime can be found in persons level of
  self-control
• Latent trait is low self-control
• 3) Low self-control leads to impulsive personality

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Gottfredson and Hirschi Self-Control Theory

• Can explain gender differences in crime
• Males have lower self-control than females

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Life Course Theories

• Assume that multiple social, personal, and
  economic factors can influence criminality and
  that these factors change over time, so too, does
  criminal involvement

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Thornberry Interactional Theory

• Integrated social disorganization, social
  control, and social learning
• Premises
• 1) Social class, race, gender, and neighborhood
  characteristics influence bonding variables and
  learning variables

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Thornberry Interactional Theory

• 2) Bonding variables include
• A) attachment to parents
• B) commitment to school
• C) belief in conventional values

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Thornberry Interactional Theory

• 3) Learning variables include
• A) association with delinquent peers
• B) formation of delinquent values

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Thornberry Interactional Theory

• 4) Bonding variables and Learning variables lead
  to delinquent behavior
• 5) Delinquent behavior also leads to reduction in
  bonding variables and learning variables
• Why it is called interactional theory